Democratic bid to reverse Hobby Lobby fails

A Democratic bill to reverse the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision narrowly failed in the Senate on Wednesday, but it sparked more contentious debate over contraception and religious freedom that both sides hope will mobilize their voters in November.

The bill in effect says a 1993 religious freedom law at the heart of the Hobby Lobby case doesn’t apply to legally required health benefits. The Supreme Court had cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in ruling that certain for-profit businesses can on religious grounds be exempted from the Obamacare requirement that the health plans they offer workers include FDA-approved birth control with no co-pays.

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The procedural vote to take up the bill failed 56-43, four short of the 60 votes needed. Three Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined the Democrats in support of the measure sponsored by Patty Murray (D-Wash).

Democrats see contraception — which most women use at some point in their lives — as a winning issue in the 2014 elections. Red-state Democrats in tough races have been wary of taking positions on new abortion restrictions, but none defected on the Hobby Lobby vote.

Both Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas voted for the Murray bill, along with Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, who was a co-sponsor. The only Democrat to vote against it was Majority Leader Harry Reid, but that was in a procedural move that allows him to bring it to the floor again. He said Wednesday that he intends to hold another vote on the legislation later this year.

“Now is the time for our colleagues to answer a few basic questions: Who should be in charge of a woman’s health care decisions?” Murray said. “Should it be her and partner and her faith, or should it be her boss? To me and the vast majority of people across the country that answer is obvious.”

The Democrats called it the “Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act,” although Murray referred to it as the “Not My Boss’s Business Act.” The bill would retain an existing exemption for churches and an accommodation for religious nonprofits, but require for-profit businesses to provide the coverage.

The Supreme Court June ruled in June that a family-owned company like the Hobby Lobby craft store chain can claim a religious exemption. Republicans, who have largely supported the court’s ruling, have been emphasizing that they’re not necessarily opposed to birth control, and introduced their own bill this week that they say would affirm access to contraception without requiring employers to pay for it.

“My wife and I are blessed with two little girls, [but] I’m very glad we don’t have 17,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “Nobody is talking about restricting access to contraceptives.”

Republicans also argued that the Democrats’ bill would violate the 1993 law’s religious liberty safeguards — and noted that every current Senate Democrat in office at the time had voted for that law, which passed Congress almost unanimously.

That includes Murray, Reid, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who was then a representative, was its chief House sponsor.

“This has been upheld by the U.S. Congress in a bipartisan, triumphant way when Sen. [Ted] Kennedy and Congressman Schumer and President [Bill] Clinton all said religious freedom is an essential part of the American heritage,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). “This is political move today that is very unfortunate because it tramples on religious freedom.”

Schumer responded that Congress never intended to apply religious freedoms to corporations, just to individuals. The Supreme Court “unwisely stretched” the law in its ruling, he said.

“As author of the bill, I can say with absolute certainty the Supreme Court got [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] completely wrong,” he said. “The court took that protection and misapplied it to for-profit companies.”

But other Democrats who had voted for the 1993 law said they’ve since changed their views.

“It’s like the Defense of Marriage Act,” Rockefeller said. “[People] say, ‘You just flipped, you don’t have any principles.’ The point is that you sort of voted one way the first time because the stakes weren’t all that high, but when you really had to get into the subject you evolve as a senator.

“If I always had to vote for what I did 20 years ago, I’d be kind of useless,” he added.